Park Bench
by A Little Infinity
Summary: Over the years I grew to love her, even when she only noticed me when she took her attention away from that book she was so captivated with.


**I don't own Gakuen Alice.**

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I remember I was seven years old at the time.

I was slightly running down the nearly empty street with my small backpack bouncing on my back form time to time and piece of paper slightly crumpled in my hands. I was just coming back from school, excited to see my parents and tell them about the award I had gotten for my hard work.

I took the shortcut which was through the park with the small playground I always went to. Suddenly, a guy on a bike nearly ran over me, making me lose my grip on my certificate. The wind carried it all the way to the wooden park bench on the other side of the playground.

My feet ran towards it, before the wind could carry it away again. I stopped as soon as I saw a figure sitting on the bench.

She looked my age. She wasn't looking at me but I could already tell that she was very pretty. She had soft looking brown hair that was tied into two pigtails, a pale complexion, she was wearing a white dress, beside her was a pink camrea and in her hands was a brand new brown book. She was still on the first few pages but it looked thick enough that it could last a lifetime!

I snapped out of my trance and remembered my award. I quickly found it stuck on one of the bushes and took it. I started to run towards my house, on my way there I noticed that the girl never looked at me once, she was busy reading her book.

I wonder if I'll ever see her again.

"Tadaimaaaaa!" I shouted into our big house while proceeding to take of my shoes.

I saw my mother's head poke out of the kitchen.

"Okairi, Natsume." she greeted me with a warm smile.

"Guess what I've got from school..." I went to the kitchen while telling her about my achievement.

After school the next day, I went to the park again. Only to see that the girl wasn't there. My shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"I never even said hello, yet." I mumbled.

I walked to my house again while kicking a small pebble with my little worn out shoes.

The next time I saw her was two years later. When I was nine.

She was there sitting on the bench again with her camera beside her and reading her book. She was somewhere between the middle and then end of the thin pages.

I automatically head to her direction when I heard a honk behind me.

"Natsume! Come on, you have a dentist appointment!" the familiar voice of my dad shouted.

I growled. Stupid dentist.

I unwillingly trudged back to the car and got inside. My dad was telling some story about how mom burnt her cupcakes but I wasn't listening. I was looking at the side mirror, until the park disappeared from my sight.

I never saw her after that until I turned 16.

As usual I was walking home from high school. I headed to the park again, for my shortcut.

When I saw her.

Her hair was left loose and curly and her skin was smooth and sun-kissed. She looked more mature now. She was still wearing a white dress but with a red ribbon around the waist. She also had her camera again. Her attention still on that brown book that I was slightly jealous of because it always got her attention every time I saw her.

I could see that she started to read the book again as it was on the first few pages. My feet were taking me to her.

I stood in front of her and took a deep breath.

"Hi."

Wow. All these years of waiting and that's all I say?

There's gotta be something wrong with me.

She turned her attention away from her book and tilted her head up to look at me. I was absolutely speechless.

She was absolutely beautiful.

Her chocolate brown eyes were framed with long dark lashes. She had high cheekbones and a cute button nose, her lips were as red as a rose.

She smiled at me.

"Hey."

Kami-sama, her voice sounded like delicate bells. It was heavenly to my ears.

"I'm Natsume Hyuuga." I introduced myself.

Geez, I'm so lame. I hope that she doesn't think I'm weird or something. I mean I don't really look like a crazy person but you know. I interrupt her reading time just to tell her my name.

I don't actually know what she's thinking right now but I want her to warm up to me. I could tell she's kind of analysing me. It makes me feel nervous, like a love sick puppy.

Who am I kidding?

She's a goddess and here I am standing here with my red eyes and messy raven hair, I admit I have sort of a nice body but that was it.

Theres no way she's gonna tell me her nam-

"I'm Mikan Sakura."

I looked at her shocked.

"Would you like to sit down?" she offered while closing her book.

"Umm, yeah." I sat down next to her.

The next few moments were spent with exchanging stories, occasional brushing of hands, some light teasing and a lot of laughter.

Turns out that she was here to stay at her relatives with her parents. She lived somewhere in Okinawa and only stayed here once a year for a week or two. Her parents were usually busy so they couldn't come to Tokyo as often as they wanted but they managed to find time this year.

She had a camera woth her and she asked if she could take a picture of me. I (being a sucker for her pouting face) of course said yes. No matter what she never talked about that book she was so captivated with.

It continued that way until she had to leave. We both said our goodbyes while my inside were telling her not to go.

I watched her walk away, her golden brown hair was swaying with each step she took. With one last breath I walked back home hoping to see her again next year.

On my seventeenth birthday, I saw her again.

We immediately started talking and just like two puzzle pieces. We clicked.

She greeted me a 'Happy Birthday' when I told her that my birthday was today.

We walked round that park, fed some ducks near the pond. She had her camera again so she took loads of pictures.

When she had to leave again, we exchanged numbers, emails and Skype names. We did everything it took to stay connected.

Before she left she gave me a kiss on my cheek.

I was falling in love with her and I knew it.

Even for a limited amount of time, it was the best birthday I ever had.

She didn't come the next year after that but we still saw each other and talked to each other over the Internet. She told me about her homeworks and teachers, friends and family problems.

We often fell asleep while talking to each other on Skype and often got told off by our parents about it but we kept doing it anyways. She took pictures of me again, when I asked her what they were for she always said.

"I like taking pictures of things that make me happy"

That alone made my heart swell.

I once again asked her about her book and she decided to show me over Skype.

It was actually like a scrapbook. There were blank pages she could write on and in between the blank pages were some plastic photo holders.

She got it ever since she was seven. It was filled with photos of things that made her happy. Photographs of her childhood in one book. No wonder it was so big.

She was reaching the few 20 last pages but they were empty. When she saw that, she grabbed something off of her desk and put them into her book.

It was pictures of me and our limited time together.

I asked her why she likes to keep things like these, she replied with a simple "Because they captivate me."

Her room was nice. It had white walls with loads of string lights hanging round her four poster bed. I often teased her about how addicted she was to them but she seemed to agree with me.

Over a couple of months we started to drift apart. School was in the way also part time jobs and friends.

Our heartfelt conversations were now limited to simple quick chats.

**Hey.**

Hey.

**What you up to?**

Friends.

**Same.**

Bye.

**Bye.**

Everything was falling apart, things werent going as well as we thought it would. It was going downhill actually. Sooner than later we stopped talking but in the back of my mind I was reminiscing the times that I spent with her.

Time passed and I was nineteen.

School just finished, I'm walking down the empty street. Heading towards the park with the small playground for my shortcut.

When I stopped in my tracks.

There she was standing there, wearing simple jeans and a red t-shirt. Once she saw me she ran into my arms and hugged me. I hugged her back, of course.

It was then when I heard her sniffling.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked her.

She turned to look up at me "Nothing. These are happy tears."

I hugged her even tighter.

"I missed you, Natsume." she whispered.

"I missed you too, Mikan."

Without hesitation, I kissed her. Something that I wanted to do for a long time.

It was sweet, romantic and it sparked.

I felt it.

When we broke the kiss our foreheads were pressed together and we were looking not each others eyes.

I quickly noticed that she didn't have her book because she was grasping both of my hands with hers.

"Where's your 'captivating' book that you always have?"

"I don't think I need it anymore. I have a better thing to be captivated by."

"What's that."

She pecked my lips and that was her answer.

She was captivated by me.

I smiled, picked her up and spun her around.

A few years later, I'm now sitting on the bed with my wife cradling our little baby boy in her arms.

He was drinking from a small baby bottle while blinking his honey brown eyes at us, his raven hair all messed up.

I kissed my wife and patted my little junior on his head.

I am forever grateful of that man who made my award blow away.

I am forever grateful of that shortcut to my house.

I am forever grateful to that park bench.

I am forever grateful that I met Mikan, introduced myself and fell in love.

I am forever grateful that she loved me back.


End file.
